Universities should be hit with the “nuclear” option of huge financial
penalties for failing to recruit enough students from poor backgrounds, the
Government’s new fair access tsar has warned.

In an outspoken attack, Prof Les Ebdon said he would use the toughest possible sanctions against institutions in England that consistently fall short of demanding admissions targets, including a ban on charging £9,000 tuition fees.

The academic – named as the Coalition’s preferred choice as head of the Office for Fair Access – suggested that universities belonging to the elite Russell Group faced the biggest challenges because they had a “mixed” record on admitting deprived students.

Figures show that the richest teenagers are seven times more likely to get places at academically selective universities than the poorest students and the gap has widened in recent years, he said.

In his first public comments since being named as the preferred candidate this week, Prof Ebdon warned that the ratio should be closer to one-to-one “because background should not be a barrier to going on to higher education”.

He also suggested that universities in England should be more “flexible” about entry requirements if students apply after studying the wrong GCSEs and A-levels at school.

The comments – made at an official “pre-appointment hearing” before the Commons business, innovation and skills select committee – are likely to provoke anger among Conservative MPs.

Prof Ebdon, the vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University and chairman of the Million Plus group, which represents new universities, has already been one of the most outspoken critics of the Coalition’s higher education reforms, including opposition to the introduction of £9,000 annual tuition fees.

On Thursday, Nadhim Zahawi, the Tory MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, and a member of the select committee, said that accepting the post as director of fair access would leave him open to accusations of “hypocrisy”.

Prof Ebdon admitted it was a “brave step” for the Coalition to select him because of his views but insisted it would send out a “very clear signal that the Government is serious about the issue of access and social mobility in our universities”.

“It is very important that universities set challenging targets,” he said. “We have slipped back in some universities in widening participation and we must make up lost ground immediately.”

He added: “They should know what things to do to improve participation and they should realise that if they don’t do that there will be an office which will not be afraid to employ sanctions if they don’t achieve these outcomes.”

Under new rules, any university in England attempting to charge more than £6,000 in fees must draw up an “access agreement” outlining how top prices will not deter the poor. This includes admissions targets, the amount of money being invested in fee discounts and bursaries and details of outreach programmes to boost recruitment rates.

Offa can fine universities £500,000 for falling short of targets or refuse to sanction an access agreement – banning them from charging more than £6,000.

“That is clearly the sanction that one uses," he said. "I guess the task is to use the nuclear option with subtlety and that will be my role.”

He added: “If you ever say you will never press the nuclear button, then you don’t have a nuclear button. Clearly, I would be prepared [to use it] if people didn’t [hit their targets].

“But my understanding and my expectation is, through some tough negotiation, to agree. I think we will be helped by making these targets transparent, open, so people know what they are and to hold people to account in public. I think the court of public opinion is powerful.”

Prof Ebdon said the commitment of the Russell Group to fair access “has been mixed”, adding that figures showed the poorest 40 per cent of students were seven times less likely to make it into highly-selective universities than the richest 20 per cent.

“Clearly we have a challenge on our hands and it is the role of the director of Offa to make sure that the major changes that are going on higher education… don’t have a detrimental effect on the opportunities of any group,” he said.

In a further swipe at the Russell Group, Prof Ebdon dismissed universities that fail to take their share of poor students “because they are doing the wrong GCSEs”.

“I think we actually have to say, ‘is there anything we can do as universities to influence the schools and interact with schools’ and I think we should plead guilty to the fact that we haven’t done enough,” he said.

“I think we have abdicated that responsibility and we should take it more seriously.”

He added: “We need to explore more whether that is really an inseparable barrier or whether we are being insufficiently flexible about entry.”